Room Full of Mirrors and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
64 used & new from $2.96

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
 
 
Start reading Room Full of Mirrors on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: voodoo child, touring musician, New York, Jimi Hendrix, Betty Jean (more...)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)

Price: $24.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Friday, November 13? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
26 new from $9.43 36 used from $2.96 2 collectible from $24.95

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition $9.99 -- --
  Library Binding $23.95 $23.95 --
  Hardcover, August 3, 2005 $24.95 $9.43 $2.96
  Paperback $15.95 $7.12 $5.70
  Audio, CD $25.95 $11.50 $11.49
  Unknown Binding $64.99 $64.99 --
  Audio, Download Offsite Link $18.88 or less with new Audible membership

Frequently Bought Together

Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix + Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend + Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight
Price For All Three: $47.13

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend by Sharon Lawrence

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight by John McDermott

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight

Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight

by John McDermott
4.2 out of 5 stars (17)  $11.99
No One Here Gets Out Alive

No One Here Gets Out Alive

by Jery Hopkins
4.3 out of 5 stars (125)  $10.17
Stevie Ray Vaughan : Caught in the Crossfire

Stevie Ray Vaughan : Caught in the Crossfire

by Joe Nick Patoski
4.5 out of 5 stars (31)  $10.19
Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience

Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience

by Janie Hendrix
3.8 out of 5 stars (6)  $34.20
Are You Experienced?: The Inside Story Of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Are You Experienced?: The Inside Story Of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

by Noël Redding
4.0 out of 5 stars (7)  $14.40
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cross (Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain) turns his thoughtful eye toward another Seattle music icon, Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970). With a storyteller's eye, he captures Hendrix's difficult, poverty-stricken childhood with alcoholic and largely absent parents, rendering it as tragic yet not without its happy, tender moments. After a stint as an army paratrooper, Hendrix knocked around playing guitar in blues clubs in the 1960s, winding up in New York and eventually London, where he established himself as a guitar god, even earning the adulation of the Beatles, before exploding onto the U.S. scene with a 1967 appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival. While replete with tales of rock star excess, Cross's narrative, based on more than 300 interviews, describes Hendrix as thoughtful and craving some semblance of order to his life, even as it became steeped in drug use. Of Hendrix's death at age 27, viewed by many as a possible suicide, Cross makes the best case yet for it being accidental, portraying Hendrix as exhausted, unable to sleep and likely taking nine sleeping pills without much thought. There are a number of Hendrix bios already available, but Cross's surpasses them all, both in terms of research and execution. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

Vet rock scribe Cross delivers one of the best biographies to date of the late guitar god Jimi Hendrix. Although there is no shortage of bios--or posthumously released recordings--of Hendrix, Cross distinguishes this effort with information gleaned from interviews with primary sources, including Hendrix's surviving family members. Cross is able to provide a fresher and more detailed portrait than appeared in Al Hendrix's (Jimi's deceased father) autobiography, including updates on the intra-family squabbles caused by Al's will. A fuller picture of Hendrix's formative years and the odd dynamic that infused the relationship of Al and Jimi's mother, Lucille, consequently emerges. Theirs was a troubled relationship, rife with adultery and the suspicion, frequently voiced by Al, that not all of the couple's children were biologically his. In addition to the family dirt, Cross covers all the usual Hendrix bases and then some. Was Jimi bisexual? Quite possibly. Did the DAR call for the Monkees to kick the fledgling Jimi Hendrix Experience off their 1967 tour? No; that was a publicity stunt by manager Chas Chandler. Did Hendrix enjoy his seminal involvement with the Plaster Casters? You bet. Admirably comprehensive and well referenced, this is the Hendrix biography to acquire if you can acquire only one. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Hyperion (August 3, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1401300286
  • ISBN-13: 978-1401300289
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #349,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Charles R. Cross
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Charles R. Cross Page

Inside This Book (learn more)

Citations (learn more)
This book cites 24 books:
See all 24 books this book cites



What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
78% buy the item featured on this page:
Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix 3.7 out of 5 stars (59)
$24.95
Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight
9% buy
Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight 4.2 out of 5 stars (17)
$11.99
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy
5% buy
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy 4.7 out of 5 stars (19)
Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend
5% buy
Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend 4.2 out of 5 stars (25)
$10.19

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

59 Reviews
5 star:
 (24)
4 star:
 (12)
3 star:
 (12)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (59 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
114 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Great On the Early Years, Weak on the Fame Years, July 24, 2005
By obi odobi (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
I don't know what the deal is with all these other reviewers (including the professional reviewing services), who claim this to be the best biography of Jimi Hendrix. That claim is erroneous, and I can only assume these are personal friends of the author or people who have been paid to hype the book. As a biography of Jimi Hendrix, I would rank this book as "good" or maybe even "very good" but certainly not "excellent" or "outstanding." Having read through this book twice, I have backed off of the harshness of my initial review, and I offer my apology to the author. However, the truth is we all get tired of the endless corporate hyping of every new product as "The Greatest" this or that. That is a very hard claim to live up to in this case, given the fact that several well-written bios of Jimi Hendrix are currently available.

If this book had been more honestly titled, it would have been called "Jimi Hendrix - The Early Years" and would have ended with Jimi meeting Chas Chandler in 1966 (i.e. around page 153 out of about 370 total pages of text). In all fairness, the book does have several strong points. It is a pleasant and informative read written from a sympathetic perspective. The author has interviewed an impressive number of people, many of whom have not gone on record before. It includes a tremendous amount of new detail on Jimi's early years (childhood in Seattle, years in the military and on the road, hustling in New York City) than other bios - probably a result of the fact that this author is a resident of Jimi's hometown of Seattle and was able to gain access to his early friends and family members. In fact, the coverage of Jimi's early years is definitely the strong point of the book - it fills in A LOT of holes and clarifies a ton of confusions, misconceptions, half-truths and outright untruths (including some created by Jimi himself) and for this reason is surely worth buying for serious fans of Jimi Hendrix. There are several fascinating and previously unpublished photos from Jimi's youth and his years in the U.S. military. The book also sheds light on a number previously undiscussed personal relationships of Jimi's including several girlfriends from throughout his life who have never gone on record before.

The problem is that once the book reaches Jimi's years of fame it thins out considerably and anyone who has read previous Hendrix bios will notice that the majority of core information which ties this book together is lifted (and heavily simplified) from other biographies, articles and interviews (which are quoted but not cited). The period from 1966-1970 is a fairly superficial read which ignores a lot of important musical and biographical details and cannot be considered serious biographical writing about Jimi Hendrix. If you want to compare it to another of the Hendrix bios, it is most similar to the tone of Jerry Hopkins' 1979 "Hit and Run" - but admittedly much less sensationalized and much more tastefully and respectfully written. No disrespect, but with all the other solid Hendrix bios out there, I would not suggest starting here. In my humble opinion, the best written and best researched books about the life and/or music of Jimi Hendrix remain:

Kramer/McDermott: "Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight"
Murray: "Crosstown Traffic"
Shadwick: "Jimi Hendrix: Musician"
Brown: "Jimi Hendrix: The Final Days"
Shapiro/Gleebeck: "Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy"
McDermott/Kramer/Cox: "Jimi Hendrix: The Sessions"
Valkhoff: "Eyewitness 1968," "Eyewitness 1969/1970"
Roby: "Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix"
Potash: "The Jimi Hendrix Companion"

The personal accounts of Noel Redding ("Are You Experienced"), Kathy Etchingham ("Through Gypsy Eyes") and Sharon Lawrence ("Jimi Hendrix: The Man, the Myth, the Truth") are somewhat painful reads but also valuable. David Henderson's "Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky" is flawed but also provides an invaluable glimpse into Jimi's personal life and his African-American context (which most biographers have tended to ignore). And Mary Willix's "Letters from Home" provides a lot of information on Jimi's youth. Based on the new information about Jimi's early years, Mr. Cross's book would fit nicely into this secondary category.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Details, details, details, October 27, 2005
By David Cohen "davenjnews" (New Jersey, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
You could wish for a little more on Hendrix's musical legacy - the influence of his sound carries to this day - but this s a pretty extraordinary book, filled with tales of a heartbreaking childhood and a wonderful array of fascinating musical legends, plus insight into some of his musical creations.

The book also gives the reader plenty of reason to wish that someone around Hendrix could have helped him stop his fatal spiral into substance abuse. (The book is not one to persuade someone to take up drugs as a hobby. Definitely not.)

The research is fairly astounding, and the writing compelling. I'd recommend it.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent bio, July 26, 2005
By Debbie Salter (Mexia, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Well, how to begin? First let's face it, most Jimi Hendrix fans are somewhat obsessive when it comes to him. And we each have our own individual opinions about him, his music, and his life. And it is hard for some of us to accept any deviation from our beliefs. I like to think when it comes to Jimi, all you really need to know about him can be found in his music. His hopes, his fears, his loves, his demons.

That being said, I still enjoy reading about Jimi and how he lived and how he made his music. So consequently, I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Cross's book. While some may criticize it because it does not delve deeply enough into the music and how Jimi made it, I feel that in a round about way it does just that. Jimi's life, all of his childhood experiences, his life on the Chitlin' circuit, his struggle to become recognized as a musician, all contributed in some way to his music and how he approached his career and his song writing. Now this book may not go into a lot of detail when he comes to the technical aspects of his music, but that's okay, because there are several other excellent books about Jimi that do just this.

I found this book to be well written and insightful when it comes to Jimi's childhood. It appears that Jimi from the beginning depended on the kindness of neighbors and relatives. I simply cannot imagine living the way he did as a child and I cannot even fathom what it did to Jimi and how it shaped his life. That part of the book was very sad. One thing is apparent, however; Jimi his entire life depended on happenstance or serendipity in his decision making. I guess he knew no other way. He just believed that things would work out eventually. And the author was correct in his belief that Jimi was just as trapped by his music and the life it afforded him as he had been during his childhood and adolescence in Seattle. Music saved him from that life, but I guess nothing could save him later. He had talent, no doubt it. That is talent in music, but no talent in how to change his life even when it obviously became very destructive.

I suppose I will continue reading books about Jimi, because there is a part of me that believes if I keep reading, I can figure him out, but that will probably never happen. There will always be a part of Jimi that will remain mysterious and hidden and that is after all how it should be.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I've got a humming bird and it hums so loud you'd think you were losing your mind
Room Full of Mirrors was an excellent biography of Jimi Hendrix. Author Charles R. Cross conducted extensive interviews with everyone he could find who knew Jimi; and the story... Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. CRADDOCK

3.0 out of 5 stars Straightforward, Basic Facts Account
Biography is a weird format, it is the only genre where the reader already knows the outcome, the death of the hero. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jym Cherry

4.0 out of 5 stars Where is Mitch Mitchell?
This is a very well written biography. Only a bit choppy in relation to time. I find a lot of bios have a tendency to lose the reader in time to the point that you are unable to... Read more
Published 7 months ago by J. Scott Moore

5.0 out of 5 stars Room Full Of Mirrors is EXCELLENT!!!
I have heard of this book for a while but finally read EVERY WORD like it was the Bible or something while on holiday in London recently. I finished it on the flight home. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Marvin

1.0 out of 5 stars Did not Capture His Talents At All
This just spoke of the bitterness and greed of everyone who knew him and how this escalated after he died in 1970 when everyone wanted to get what they felt what they were owed,... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kathryn Protzko

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Written
This is a well written biography that does not dwell on the lurid details of Hendrix's life, presenting them instead in a much more dignified and unbiased way. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Thomas M. Manney

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll Meet You in the Next World and Don't Be Late
This is an entertaining biography. I have been a Jimi Hendrix fan since I was 14 and it was his guitar playing that made me want to go out and buy a guitar and learn how to play... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jason T. Fetters

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
I've only gotten past the first couple chapters and it's interesting thus far. I look forward to how it continues and develops.
Published 16 months ago by R. Browne

3.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, but weak and irritating writing style.
I'm just re-reading Cross's book for the second time. I thought I would give it a second chance. I was quite irritated by it the first time, although the wealth of detail on... Read more
Published 18 months ago by MBW

5.0 out of 5 stars When the Power of Love overcomes the love of power....
There are many accounts of Jimi's legacy and interpretations of it and as a review column I am not here to compare one with the other. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jeff Morrison

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.